


Flaming up in Red, Live like a Phoenix

by borrowedphrases



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, SM Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim, Buddhism, Christianity, Drift Bond, M/M, Minor Lee Donghae/Lee Hyukjae | Eunhyuk, Opposites Attract, POV Minor Character, Post-Drift (Pacific Rim), Soulmate AU - Drift Compatibility, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21941605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borrowedphrases/pseuds/borrowedphrases
Summary: Changmin and Yunho appear to be complete opposites. Yet somehow they're they best Jaeger team at the Shatterdome
Relationships: Jung Yunho/Shim Changmin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27
Collections: Ho Ho Homin: The Yunho/Changmin Holiday Fic Exchange 2019





	Flaming up in Red, Live like a Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cosmicmacchiato](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmicmacchiato/gifts).



> If your ship isn't drift compatible then what even is the point.

"I don't get it," one of the new cadets comments around a mouthful of rice. He swallows, then takes a sip of his drink. When no other words seem forthcoming, Kyuhyun looks in the same direction as the kid - he thinks his name might be Se Hun, but it's hard to remember all the newbies. So many of them came in all at once, and only a handful of them, at best, would end up sticking around - but it's hard to tell exactly who or what he's looking at. He makes a vaguely curious sound, a low hum at the back of his throat, half hoping he'll be able to just finish is lunch and the paragraph he's on in his book without being properly interrupted.

"Crimson _S_ aga." The boy points with his spoon, a few sticky grains of rice falling off it to land on the middle of the table. Kyuhyun sighs and dog-ears a page in his book, carefully setting it down outside the rang of flying rice.

The pair in question are seated across the canteen, against the far wall. Changmin with his back against the wall, face stuffed in a book held in one hand, the other occasionally spearing vegetables with his fork, even less occasionally managing to lift them to his mouth. Yunho sits across from him - and that's being generous, he seems to barely have a few moments to perch on his side of the table and shove a few spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth before he's bouncing up again to greet some dear friend or vague acquaintance.

"They don't act like they have anything in common," possibly-Se Hun adds, holding the curve of his spoon against his out-stuck tongue. "Not like Android _S_ yndrome. How can they be the be _s_ t Jaeger team here?"

Kyuhyun snorts into his tea, splutters, then wipes his chin on his crumpled napkin. "Not everyone is as obviously Drift compatible as Android Syndrome's pilots."

"I'd think you'd need at lea _s_ t a few thing _s_ in common to Drift." The cadet frowns, fussing at the leftover on his plate. "Max and Uknow are like night and day."

So the kid has to be really new then, if he's still calling pilots by their call names. Kyuhyun's not sure if he should wish the kid good luck, or hope he washes out and finds a safer profession. He rests a hand on the boy's shoulder, giving it a squeeze and a little pat of reassurance. "Things are different in the Drift. You'll see what it's like when you're ready."

Kyuhyun had only Difted a few times before deciding he just wasn't suited to be a pilot. He much preferred sitting at a consol and orchestrating things from a distance, even though that could often be the more frustrating and emotionally painful place to be. Still, he remembers what it was like to be inside someone else's head, to have someone else in his, to be completely open with another person like that. No secrets, no doubts. It was as strengthening as it was a vulnerability.

Alarms sound suddenly, flashing red about the canteen. A woman's voice aggressives over the com, scrambling the Jaegers and the tech teams. Kyuhyun shoves his book into his back pocket as he abandons his food, and gives the wide-eyed cadet a casual salute as he leaves him and heads for his post in mission control.

Across the room, Changmin and Yunho have already left their plates behind, moving in perfect step with each other as they rush to the Drivesuit Room.

↭

As they're sealed into the possible shroud of their Drivesuits, Yunho mutters a simple prayer under his breath. The words barely passing his lips, but echoing again and again in his mind as he draws closer to entering the Drift. He knows Changmin is doing similar in his own way, with mantra instead of prayer. As their minds connect, reaching towards one another and combining in a swirl of memory and thought, blending _pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death_ ♱ -

`their cheek covered in blood`

`seven candles on a cake`

`walking home alone`

`their sister at her wedding`

`going into surgery`

`mourning at a grave`

`fighting their first kaiju`

`fighting each other`

`holding hands`

`training together`

`their first kiss`

`making love`

\- with _gone, gone, everyone gone to the other shore, awakening_ॐ until _svaha_ and _amen_ become a single hum shared between them. It's that final sound that they take with them as they fully enter the Drift, a word that has a sound that can't be spoken, yet grounds them within and beside one another, allows them both to open their eyes with clarity and move as one into battle.

Crimson Saga is a heaviness that binds them together physically, a weight on their limbs that only their combination can move. Yunho flashes Changmin a smile across their cockpit, feeling more than seeing Changmin's soft return. They move as one, a single cadence as they stride out into the thrash of the ocean. Their dominant hands get to work, while their other hands reach out toward one another, as if holding hands across the wide physical gap between them.

↭

Changmin is always especially quiet after returning from the Drift. He blames it on the weight of battle, the emotional crash after the adrenaline rush has faded. That's a good enough explanation for the doctors and scientists and even Marshal Kwon, but not for Yunho. Never for Yunho. Changmin suspects that Yunho would know better even if they had never shared a Drift, he just has that way about him, but he definitely knows the toll battle takes on his partner after being in Changmin's own mind.

While Yunho greets the cheers of fellows pilots and shatterdome grease monkeys, and reassures the concerns of medics and technicians, Changmin slinks off to their quarters, avoiding those he can, glaring at those he can't. One new recruit stares at him for an especially long time after they pass in the hallway, but scampers off as soon as Changmin turns a glare over his shoulder at him.

When the door clangs shut behind him Changmin lets his shoulders fold forward and inward, lets his posture slouch and his tensions ease. He hates carrying himself like a soldier, like a warrior. He hates that he has to be that way, that he's one who has to set the example for future pilots. But what can he do? He can't run away, knowing what he and so few others can do to help the fight.

With a groan he strips down to his skivvies and shivers his way beneath the bedcovers. It's not really a proper bed, just two bunks that had been unstacked and pushed up against one another, their standard issue single blankets overlapping to form almost a single bedspread. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was home, more home than any other spot in the entire Shatterdome.

Even before he can hear those joyful, heavy footfalls, Changmin can feel Yunho approaching their quarters. Call it a hangover from the Drift, but he can always tell when Yunho is close by, can feel what he's feeling without having to ask, or even see him. Their door opens and thumps shut again, and Yunho groans, stretching and popping far to many bones in his back, prompting and even more lusty sounding groan.

"Shut up." Yunho mutters into the room.

Changmin chuckles softly from beneath the covers. "I said nothing."

"You didn't have to." Yunho says as he tugs his boots off, tossing them at random corners of the room. "I could feel it."

"Rude." Changmin plans to say more, but a deep yawn catches him, making his jaw crack with its weight. Yunho makes the thin mattress dip on his side as he crawls into bed, and Changmin scoots his way closer, taking up two thirds of the bed for himself as he tries to wriggle his way into Yunho's arms.

Yunho just laughs, softly, not protesting his lack of bed space as he opens his arms and welcomes Changmin in against his chest. Changmin nestles into his warmth, into the strength of his embrace, half asleep already as his head comes to rest just beneath Yunho's chin.

Changmin can feel new scars on Yunho's skin, around his hip and leading over onto his back. He glides his fingers along the lines, enjoying how Yunho's fingers are doing the same on him. Someday, maybe, they won't have to fight anymore, won't risk death just to buy the earth one more week, day, or hour. But with that day will come the last time they Drift together, and Changmin's not sure giving that up is worth retiring.

"Rest." Yunho says, more of a command than a request or bit of advice. Changmin pushes thoughts of the future away, snuggles in even closer to Yunho, and lets his mind drift off toward sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun to write, I may want to do more in this universe later on. For now I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of a wider AU!
> 
> ###### Footnotes
> 
>   
> **1. _Ave Maria_ (Hail Mary)** [return]  
> A traditional Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
> 
> Áve Marī́a, grā́tiā plḗna,  
>  Dóminus tḗcum.  
>  Benedícta tū in muliḗribus,  
>  et benedíctus frū́ctus véntris túī, Iḗsūs.  
>  Sā́ncta Marī́a, Mā́ter Déī,  
>  ṓrā prō nṓbīs peccātṓribus,  
>  nunc et in hṓrā mórtis nóstrae. Āmēn. | Hail Mary, full of grace,  
>  the Lord is with thee.  
>  Blessed art thou amongst women,  
>  and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  
>  Holy Mary, Mother of God,  
>  pray for us sinners,  
>  now and at the hour of our death. Amen.  
> ---|---  
>   
>   
> **2\. प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदय | _Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya_ (Heart Sūtra)** [return]  
> Most commonly recited, copied and studied scripture in East Asian Buddhism, ending with the mantra:
> 
> गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा | gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā | gone, gone, everyone gone to the other shore, awakening, svaha.  
> ---|---|---


End file.
